as the majority of his soldiers.  He had absolute confidence that he could beat the enemy if his men had rifles and ammunition, which many had not.  Half his men were waiting for the rifles of comrades who might be killed or frozen in the snow.  The conferences were quite businesslike, and Admiral Koltchak’s presence seemed to galvanise the whole army into life and energy.  The “Russky soldat,” whose boots had long since disappeared and whose feet were bound up in bags to protect them from the snow, felt almost certain that proper boots and clothes would follow from the War Minister’s visit.  Pepelaieff came back in my carriage to meet General Gaida, and the admiral also relished a British soldier’s ration as we discussed things generally, including the proposed advance and the necessary measures to make it into a victory.

We were to have gone next to the extreme right, where General Verzbitsky operated on the flank, but the admiral said the condition of the soldiers was very sad, and his immediate business was to organise the rear and so secure the means by which the soldier at the front could do his duty.  We saw the ceremonial of the presentation of colours to the 11th Siberian Rifles, a fine proceeding greatly enhanced by the fact that three officers of the regiment had rescued the colours (originally presented by Peter the Great) from the Bolshevik Revolutionaries, and as pedlars and peasants had tramped for months through the Bolshevik lines and brought them safely to the new regiment.

It was necessary for the admiral to see General Surovey and General Detriks and their Staffs at Chilliyabinsk, and also to have a look at the Ufa front.  Travelling all night, we arrived at Chilliyabinsk next morning, and after quite a formal inspection of guards, we adjourned for lunch.  The date I do not remember, but my old friend Colonel Pichon burst through all etiquette to inform me of the terms of armistice between Germany and the Entente, and brought out a bottle of champagne he had preserved for the occasion; we swore by all the powers above and below that we were the greatest people the world had ever seen in all its ages and intended to remain so.

Lunch over, I left the admiral to his generals and walked a little through this straggling, snow-swept town, firmly believing that we were about to start for Ufa.  At 5 P.M.  I was informed that the conferences were over and there were urgent reasons for an immediate return to Omsk.  I did not object as I was not anxious to see more of this army of ill-fed, half-clad soldiers struggling to save the State under intolerable conditions.  We started on our return journey and travelled till 11 A.M. next day, by which time we had arrived at Petropalovsk.  Here the station commandant informed us that General Bolderoff wished our train to wait for his, as it was most essential that he should have a conference with the Minister for War.  This was the first intimation I had received that General Bolderoff had left Omsk and was